American Jesus

Aram Garriga (2013 80 min,1.33:1)

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In fall of 2010, director Aram Garriga joined maverick production outfit Glass Eye Pix, whose diverse titles include Birth of the Living Dead, Gods of Times Square, The Comedy, Wendy and Lucy, Stake Land and The Last Winter, to explore a topic that offers essential insight into the state of America today.

Three years later, on October 4th, 2013, Garriga’s ambitious portrait of diverse Christianity in American Culture had its world premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival, followed by its international premiere at the Sitges Film Festival on October 13th.

American Jesus is an important documentary
that will redefine how the world looks at America
and how we Americans look at ourselves…
with a level of intuitive intelligence
I’ve never seen before in a film on religion.”

THE HUFFINGTON POST

“AN AMAZING FILM….
one of the best and most interesting documentaries on religion.”

Todd Brown TWITCH

Fascinating and informative…
one of the best, if not, the best documentary on Christianity
in the United States today, lift your arms in prayer
and say “Hallelujah” for AMERICAN JESUS.

Debbie Lynn Elias MOVIE SHARK DEBLORE

Garriga is the new Alexis de Tocqueville..
“American Jesus” is to religion what de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” (1835)
was to our national life then: a revealing outsider’s exploration
of truths we Americans are too close to.”

THE HUFFINGTON POST

“…REQUIRED VIEWING FOR EVERYONE.”

RED LETTER CHRISTIANS

From the Director:

DIRECTOR ARAM GARRIGA TRAVELS FROM HIS NATIVE BARCELONA TO CHRONICLE THE UNIQUE AMERICAN RESPONSE TO FAITH.
The story behind this project started a few years ago in Spain. I was having coffee with my friend and co-writer Xavi Pratt, when he started talking about some American rock bands that I would surely like if I knew about. “The funny thing is that all of them are Christian bands, in Christian labels and mainly operating within the Christian market” – he added. The whole sentence immediately triggered my interest, as it carried a self-contained universe that looked way interesting to explore in a film. So we started thinking of a documentary film project that would focus on the fascinating and sometimes frightening popular cultural forms of American Christianity. The purpose of the film would be to give an overview on the reasons why Pop Culture has become THE Church in the United States of America, leveling Faith to Marketing, Salvation to Personal Success, and Church to Business.

The film focuses on a nation-widespread variety of Christian organizations, controversial and relevant figures of the Evangelical community, Christian Pop Culture & Music specialists, secular analysts, Apocalyptic Preachers and the End Times, Prosperity Pastors, Christian Bikers & Cage-fighters, Mega-churches, Snake Handlers, the Creation Museum, Atheists, Christian Surfers and Cowboys, to name just a few. Their personal testimonies and perspectives will draw a map with all of the ideological and social positions covered and properly represented.

The main goal of the film will be triggering the debate and the questioning, from a non-judgmental perspective, on what’s the current state of American Faith and what are its real social and political implications.

-Aram Garriga, director

Aram Garriga, director

Visualsuspects is the production company created in 2008 by the Barcelona based director, editor, writer & producer Aram Garriga. From the very beginning the company has focused on supporting innovative and creative projects with an international approach, such as music videos, commercials, documentaries and feature films.

Glass Eye Pix (“one of the indie scene’s most productive and longest-running companies” ­–Filmmaker Magazine) is the fierce independent NYC-based production outfit headed by art-horror auteur Larry Fessenden. Fessenden has operated the company since 1985, with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts.

Fessenden’s producing credits include Kelly Reichardt’s WENDY AND LUCY (On over 60 “Top 10 Movies of the Year” lists) Rick Alverson’s THE COMEDY, Ti West’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, and THE INNKEEPERS. He is the winner of the 1997 Someone to Watch Spirit Award and nominee for the 2010 Piaget Spirit Award for producing.

An ardent supporter of emerging filmmakers and auteur-driven film, Kunkle is currently in post-production on Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s LATE PHASES (starring Ethan Embry and Tom Noonan). His producorial works comprise the award-winning & 2012 Sundance dramatic competition selection THE COMEDY and a slate of “pulp” thrillers with Glass Eye Pix; Joe Maggio’s BITTER FEAST, Jim Mickle’s STAKE LAND and James Felix McKenney’s HYPOTHERMIA.

Carles Torras, producer – Zabriskie Films

Zabriskie Films is an independent production company based in Barcelona and founded by the producer and director Carles Torras in 2007. We are producing fiction films and documentaries and most of our works have been selected and awarded at major film festivals.

Our vision is to make independent films driven by filmmakers with a unique vision and to find the best new talent wherever it is. We are always in search of alliances with other independent production companies and TV stations from around the world in order to offer high quality productions with an international impact.